Cut-throat kicking: Carlson and Gonzalez cut after one game

Week 2 was incredible. We witnessed an onslaught of scoring, tightly contested games and plenty of controversy. It’s safe to say that kickers were the most unfortunate, with pivotal field goals missed. Here’s exactly what has happened since last week’s mishaps.

Daniel Carlson had a horrific day. Of four field goals attempted, Carlson only converted one. For the statisticians out there that’s a 25% conversion rate. More importantly, Carlson missed two attempts to win the game against divisional rivals the Green Bay Packers in overtime. After which, Minnesota made the decision to cut their kicker. When asked if it was an easy decision to make, head coach Mike Zimmer simply responded, “Yeah, pretty easy.”

Despite of Carlson’s incredibly poor performance, I feel the decision is harsh because there is clearly an underlying confidence issue. His college stats speak for themselves. Playing 4 years as an Auburn Tiger, Carlson had a 80.7% conversion rate, scoring 474 points in the process. He is the all-time leading scorer in SEC football history.

After missing a potential game-winning field goal against the Pittsburgh Steelers in week 1, the Browns had another chance to win a game late on in New Orleans. With 1 minute 17 seconds left on the clock, Zane Gonzalez missed a PAT which would’ve put the Browns up by a point. He went on to have a further opportunity, missing a 52-yard field goal with three seconds remaining. The Browns lost the game 21-18.

In Gonzalez’s four-year collegiate career he posted an 82.8 field goal conversion percentage and holds the record for most NCAA Division 1 field goals converted in any collegiate career. Despite this, the Browns cut Gonzalez from the squad after just one year with team.